5 Miami Beach Cops Charged After 'Unspeakable' Actions

Footage shows officers kicking suspect and tackling, punching a bystander
By Liz MacGahan,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 3, 2021 3:14 PM CDT

Five police officers have been charged with battery after two Black men were violently arrested at a hotel in South Beach in Miami Beach. The arrests last week were captured on surveillance video recorded by the Royal Palm Hotel , the AP reports. The footage picks up Delonta Crudup running into the elevator in the lobby, then being ordered out of it at gunpoint by an officer. Crudup gets down on the floor with his hands behind his back; he's then swarmed by 21 cops and allegedly kicked by Sgt. Jose Perez and Officer Kevin Perez while on the floor, the Miami Herald reports. The paper reports the police attention then shifts to Khalid Vaughn, who was filming the police action and is told to back up. While doing so, Officer Robert Sabater is allegedly seen rushing at him, tackling him.

Police can be seen punching Vaughn in the back while he’s being restrained, too, WPLG reports. Police say they confronted Crudup about parking his scooter illegally and that he made to leave, striking an officer with the scooter, which Crudup denies. The officer reportedly suffered leg injuries; Crudup was charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, among other counts. The charges against Vaughn were dropped. The three aforementioned officers, along with Officer David Rivas and Officer Steven Serrano, turned themselves in Monday. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said of the footage, “It was just unfathomable. It was unspeakable. It was just inexcusable.” She added, “we will learn from this. And we will grow from this.”
(More police brutality stories.)

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